Itanagar, Pasighat municipal council polls on May 29

The Arunachal Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) today announced May 29 as the date for elections to Itanagar and Pasighat municipal councils.

The schedule for panchayat polls, however, could not be finalised due to "technical reasons" related to the recent Arunachal Pradesh Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill 2018, which has called for changes in the structure of the Panchayat Raj system, State Election Commissioner Hage Kojeen said.

There are at present 30 wards under the Itanagar Municipal Council with 64,799 electors, while the Pasighat Municipal Council has 12 wards with a total of 9,646 electors.

The notification for the election would be issued on May 1, while the last date for filing of nominations has been fixed for May 8, Kojeen said.

Scrutiny of papers would be done on May 10 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 14.

Counting of votes would be held on May 31 and the entire election process would be completed by June 7, he said in a statement, adding, the model code of conduct would come into force from May 1.

The commission has also appointed two observers for Itanagar municipality and one observer for Pasighat municipality.

Elaborating on the panchayat elections, Kojeen said a delay in the polls resulted because of the Arunachal Pradesh Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill 2018, passed in the state Assembly, whereby the existing three-tier Panchayat Raj system is being replaced by a two-tier system.

"The commission had earlier moved the proposal for holding the (panchayat) elections on January 31 this year as per schedule, and requested the state government to convey its concurrence latest by the first week of March.

"But on getting no reply, reminders were sent to the CMO on February 19 and April 11, as the scheduled notification date was April 13, which already expired," he said in the statement.

The Arunachal Pradesh government in its response mentioned that consequential amendments are required to be incorporated in various subordinate legislations in view of the Bill, Kojeen said.

The state government has decided to hold the elections only after completing all the required legal processes, he said.